Wrapping up Aggies’ 1st day of spring drills

COLLEGE STATION – Texas A&M kicked off its spring drills on Friday on a gorgeous day for doing so, and afterward coach Kevin Sumlin, offensive lineman Cedric Ogbuehi and cornerback Deshazor Everett visited with the media. A handful of bits from the gathering:

* Sumlin on his three quarterbacks battling to replace Johnny Manziel: “You’ve got the old veteran (Matt Joeckel), the young guy who played some last year (Kenny Hill) who obviously now has a sense of urgency, and the new guy (Kyle Allen) who just shows up and threw some great balls today. What I like about them is you see them talking to each other, and (offensive coordinator) Jake (Spavital) is doing a great job with them. They’re being competitive but not combative. They’re helping each other.
“It’s still early and as we start to see different things from our defense and put in more offense … we’ll see. But I was pleased with the tempo, how they got their signals and how they operated the offense. As time goes on and we put more and more on their plate, we’ll see how they perform.”

* Sumlin: “There’s a sense of urgency across our defense, period. I told them, ‘I don’t care who plays. I care how you play.’ A statement to say the door is wide open — if you want a position, go take it.”

* Ogbuehi on what the Aggies’ offense will look like without Manziel: “It will be the same. The ball might come out a little faster because the (new quarterbacks) aren’t as athletic as Johnny is. But I’d guess more passing and less running from the quarterback. Overall it will be the same offense: fast-paced and explosive.”

* Ogbuehi on the recent arrests of teammates Isaiah Golden and Darian Claiborne: “We just hope that guys are smart. It’s a bad situation, but we’re getting through it. We’re talking to the guys, and they know they messed up. We’ll get through it.”

* Everett said S Howard Matthews is “a different player now” under new DBs coach Terry Joseph: “He’s not lagging around and doing it his way. He’s going hard every play. He’s being vocal. That’s what we need from the back end, especially from the safeties. Because they have to communicate to everybody on the defense.”

* This was really telling from Everett on Joseph, hired from Nebraska to replace new Boise State defensive coordinator Marcel Yates: “He’s definitely a change. He’s a real vocal coach, and he wants you to do it exactly the way he wants you to do it. And there’s no other way about it. If you don’t do it his way, you’re not going to play. You’ve got to adjust to that, and you’ve got to go out and do it his way.”

* Funny from Sumlin on Ogbuehi needing to keep on his newfound weight (over 300 pounds) in taking on top defensive ends: “He’s eating right, lifting and he’s a leader. He’s one of those 305-pound guys who likes to walk around the pool with his shirt off.” Sumlin said Ogbuehi has “hovered” around 290-295 for his career, but has been consistently over 300 for the past few months (and can still look good with his shirt off).

* Sumlin said being 295 sometimes worked against Ogbuehi in 2013: “Against some teams he had trouble anchoring. He was a little bit light.”

* DJ Double R from San Antonio played during A&M’s first spring practice. Sumlin: “Guys were buzzing around”